Indians first baseman Jeff Clement hit his ninth home run of the season yesterday afternoon, driving in three runs and scoring a pair as Indianapolis rode a five-run third inning to a 9-6 win over the division-rival Toledo Mud Hens at Victory Field.

Clement helped start the Tribe’s scoring in the bottom of the third inning, when Indianapolis scored five runs and took the lead for good. LF Gorkys Hernandez singled to lead off the frame before scoring on a single to right field by Clement.

At the time, Clement’s single tied the game at 1-1. Toledo had taken a 1-0 lead in the top of the third when C Bryan Holaday singled and then came all the way around to score on a throwing error.

Indianapolis wasn’t satisfied with just tying the game, however. SS Jordy Mercer followed Clement’s RBI single with a double to center field scoring Starling Marte to give the Indians a 2-1 lead which they would not relinquish. DH Yamaico Navarro followed up with a double of his own to score Clement and extend the Tribe lead to 3-1 before RF Brandon Boggs drove in both Mercer and Navarro with a single to right, capping the five-run inning.

Before the third was over, the Indians had chased Toledo starter Thad Weber from the game. The lefty allowed all five Indianapolis runs to that point and was handed his seventh lose of the season.

Clement added to the Tribe’s lead with a two-run home run in the bottom of the fourth inning to put the Indians ahead 7-1.

The Mud Hens rallied in the top of the fifth, scoring three runs on just two hits. Justin Henry’s two-run double cut the Tribe advantage to 7-3 before scoring himself on a sac fly by John Lindsey.

Tribe starter Justin Wilson picked up his sixth win of the season and recorded eight strikeouts, extending his team lead to 89 on the season.

After Toledo’s rally in the top of the fifth, Indianapolis recovered a pair of the runs that had been given up. 3B Brian Friday’s RBI single made it an 8-4 ballgame before Friday came home on a single by 2B Anderson Hernandez, pushing the Tribe’s advantage to 9-4.

The Mud Hens pursued mini-rally in both the eighth and ninth innings, managing to plate a lone run in each. In the eighth, Lindsey doubled down the left-field before scoring on a groundball to cut the Indianapolis lead to 9-5.

In the ninth inning, RF Ben Guez drew a leadoff walk and, after a flyout, scored all the way from first on a double to center by Argenis Diaz to close out the scoring at 9-6.

The Indians (48-31) and Mud Hens (32-48) will continue their series on Thursday, with the first pitch scheduled for 7:05 p.m. Indianapolis is expected to send undefeated RHP Rick VandenHurk (6-0, 2.27) to the mound, while Toledo is likely to counter with LHP Andy Oliver (4-6, 4.01).